Although air operated engines have been in existence for nearly a century, and the art of operating such an engine is well known and common knowledge, the application of such an engine for powering non stationary vehicles has not been standardized nor applied commercially, apparently because gasoline, as a fuel for the internal combustion engine, has always been available and in abundant supply that would meet any demand for a source of energy.
Possibly for this reason no concentrated attempt was ever made to develop a method for adequately supplying compressed air as a fuel, either internally within the engine or by adaptation of external devises, that would give a constant and continual supply of energy for long term and continuous operation of a non stationary vehicle, without depending upon a stored supply of compressed air.
However, air operated engines have been quite feasible for stationary power operations and most notably the Stirling Engine, which has proven to be very useful in commercial and industrial applications. And a number of air operated devices have been invented that apply the operation of motors, rotary vanes and other equipment of the wheel and drive shaft of a vehicle, though such devices are limited in their operation to the amount of compressed working fluid available and, even though many work on the principle of compressing air during braking and deceleration in order to generate fuel for operation of an air engine, the continual and constant supply of compressed air that is needed, particularly for contingency demand, is lacking in scope and quantity and does not fulfill the requirements for operating a non stationary vehicle for a commercial application.
The need for a vehicle that can be operated continously over long range and in a commercial manner with an alternative fuel to gasoline, oil and other fossil fuels is apparent and this need will not lessen but only become greater with the passing of time, as the world population increases and consequently the demand, and the evident decrease in the availability of such fuel. An air operated engine supplemented with an alternative energy source and to the gasoline/diesel engine is the most feasible approach to solving this problem at the immediate moment and, as more advanced technology becomes available and the assimilation is possible, the application should be for a total self sustaining air operated engine with an on-board energy recovery and regenerative system that can be used for commercial application for driving non stationary vehicles in a comparable manner to that of current conventional gasoline or diesel engine driven vehicles.